Pages

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Methi Powder / Menthi podi is a very essential kitchen basic & at home it is one of ingredients I use on a daily basis. This powder comes handy & can be added to pickle's, rasam, dal & some chutney's that go well with it. Methi Powder is made of slightly fried Methi seeds or Menthulu, which are later grind to a smooth powder. Quantity of adding this powder changes from one recipe to other. This powder is bitter to taste & when mixed with other dishes it totally adds a unique flavor, while the bitter taste just disappears. Apart from cooking, this powder has numerous health benefits to it. You can use it as a face & hair mask & results are amazingly good.

Ingredients

1/4Cup methi seeds {Menthulu}

Directions

- Heat a pan with methi seeds.

- Dry roast them for few minutes or until they change their color to little dark brown.

Yogurt chutneys are the regular dishes in summer. It is believed that yogurt helps in keeping your body cool & helps beat the heat of sun. Lassi's, smoothies, cool drinks & ice creams are the few things you can enjoy having on summer days. Yogurt Chutney or Perugu pachadi has many variations & I'm sharing the simple version of making it. In this chutney I simply pan fried brinjal along with tomatoes, but to make it much flavorful you can roast brinjal {As you do for baingan bartha} & make this dish. Though that process is elaborated it tastes delicious.

Lemon Dal is a tasty yet cooling dish for summer's or for any hot day for that matter. Moong Dal is believed to cool the body temperatures on hot days & it is a easy to digest lentil, which is tasty yet easy to cook. My mom use to regularly make this dal in summer, which goes along with pickles of the season. You can also make pulusu & chutney with dal & they are deliciously tempting.

Pickles are a comforting dish in our house. When I'm not in a mood of cooking I depend on pickles, combined with simple dal along with yogurt. I get few pickles from India & some temporary one's like this dish when in need. This particular pickle is a sun dried version & super tempting too. Tomato Pickle is a saver for busy days. I always make sure that I have a box of it in my refrigerator ready to go. There are many ways of making this pickle & here I'm sharing the recipe of my mom. This version has both the methi powder & mustard powder in it. The flavor is tempting with the spice mix added in it.

Directions- Clean tomatoes with water & pat them dry with a dry towel. Leaves on counter for 1hr. - Chop tomatoes to small pieces. - In a bowl add tomatoes, salt, chili powder, mustard powder & methi powder. Mix them well & cover up with a lid. - Allow it to sit for 24hrs on counter. - On a plate layout the tomato pieces along with the oozed juice. - Sun dry it for 2 days, until tomatoes are little dried. - Heat pan with oil. To that add chana dal, urad dal, red chili's & mustard seeds to it. - Once the mustard starts jumping add curry leaves & hing to pan. - Switch off heat & add it to pickle. Mix it well.- Adjust salt & chili powder if needed. - Serve with rice & a dollop of ghee.Note- Don't over dry tomatoes. - Chop tomatoes in to small bits.

Follow me on "Facebook", "Google+", "Pinterest" for daily updates. Leave me a comment on any queries regarding this recipe & I will be able to answer it for you as soon as possible.

Cauliflower Pickle has been on my to make list for long time. I tasted this pickle at my aunt's place & liked the flavor of it. So I decided on trying this pickle & we just loved it.Cauliflower is one of those veggies I keep a little distance from. I never liked the smell of them so much & hardly will buy this veggie. This time I decided on trying this pickle which I liked & bought a small flower with much hesitation. I learned that the blend of spice mixes & garlic has dominated the smell of this flower & made the pickle much flavorful. I used much less of oil than needed & it didn't made any difference to the pickle.

Note- Florets shouldn't become soft. - Florets should be cut in to small pieces.- Feel free to add little more oil if needed.- Day by day the pickle gets delicious. - You can use either lemon juice or tamarind in this dish.

Follow me on "Facebook", "Google+", "Pinterest" for daily updates. Leave me a comment on any queries regarding this recipe & I will be able to answer it for you as soon as possible.

Dosa Avakaya is a delicious Andhra pickle made of yellow cucumbers & spice mixture. It is a year round pickle & can be made in small batches for much fresher pickle & also for temporary use.Mustard Powder is what makes it a avakaya. The flavor is strong & powerful because of mustard powder. At home it is one of those pickles that will be made regularly. I got this recipe from my mom. she generally leaves few seeds with the cucumber pieces & she says they give a nice bite & also infuse some tangy taste to the pickle.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Coriander Peanut Chutney is a delicious chutney accompanies well with any South Indian Tiffins & also pairs well with rice too. In this chutney peanuts are the star & they can be felt in every bite along with other ingredients. This is a mildly spiced chutney & can be adjusted as per your requirements.